Teesside Airport railway station

Teesside Airport
General information
LocationTeesside International Airport, Middleton St George
England
Coordinates54°31′07″N 1°25′31″W / 54.5185307°N 1.4253339°W / 54.5185307; -1.4253339
Grid referenceNZ373138
OwnerTeesside International Airport
ManagerNorthern Trains
Platforms1 (not in use) [1]
Tracks2
Other information
Station codeTEA[2]
ClassificationDfT category F1
History
Original company
British Rail (Eastern Region)
Key dates
3 October 1971 (1971-10-03)Opened
May 2022 (2022-05)Service Suspended
Passengers
2020/21Decrease 2
2021/22Increase 42
2022/23Decrease 2
2023/24Decrease 0[a]
2024/25Steady 0[a]
Location
Teesside Airport is located in County Durham
Teesside Airport
Teesside Airport
Location within County Durham
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Teesside Airport railway station is on the Tees Valley line which runs between Bishop Auckland and Saltburn via Darlington in County Durham, England. The station is 5 miles 43 chains (8.9 km) east of Darlington,[3] and about 1 mile (1.6 km) from Teesside International Airport,[4] which owns the station. It is managed by Northern Trains, which also operated the limited service calling at the station prior to services being suspended in 2022.

Teesside Airport is one of Britain's least-used railway stations, with an estimated 338 passenger journeys made during 2019/20. While remaining officially open, the station has seen its service suspended since May 2022 with the one operational platform condemned as unsafe. Because of this, there were only 2 passengers in the year beginning April 2022, and 0 in the years thereafter.[5]

History

The station is on the original route of the Stockton & Darlington Railway. Funded by the Teesside Airport Joint Committee, it was opened by British Rail on 3 October 1971.[6][7][8][9] The station is a fifteen-minute walk from the airport terminal, and accessibility issues are a major factor in its lack of usage.[10][11]

In 2004, the airport changed its name to Durham Tees Valley Airport, but reverted to Teesside International Airport in 2019.[12] The station's name was never updated to reflect the change. In 2007, Northern Rail erected new signs reading Teesside Airport, replacing previous signs which had used a hyphen in Tees-side. National Rail now also lists the station as Teesside Airport.[13]

On 24 October 2009, a group of 26 people travelled to and from the station on the only scheduled service, to highlight the station's existence and its limited service, and to try to persuade railway authorities to move it closer to the airport terminal.[10][14][15]

The station saw its service suspended in May 2022, being deemed unsafe with owner Teesside International Airport refusing to fund repairs.[16]

Tees Valley Metro and Redevelopment

Transit diagram showcasing all discussed or mentioned ideas for the Tees Valley Metro.

Starting in 2006, Teesside Airport was mentioned within the Tees Valley Metro scheme. This was a plan to upgrade the Tees Valley Line and sections of the Esk Valley Line and Durham Coast Line to provide a faster and more frequent service across the North East of England. In the initial phases the services would have been heavy rail mostly along existing alignments with new additional infrastructure and rollingstock. The later phase would have introduced tram-trains to allow street running and further heavy rail extensions.[17][18][19][20]

As part of the scheme, Teesside Airport station would have been relocated to better serve the terminal. The new station would have been near the road bridge that connects the Airport link road to the A67 as well as a planned new hotel development. A platform in each direction would have been provided, along with stairs and ramps to the road bridge. A new waiting area was also discussed, potentially with electronic information screens displaying rail and air departure information. The station would have been linked to the terminal via a separate footpath, with bus connections also located at the terminal.[17] The station would have received improved service to Darlington and Saltburn (1–2 to 4 trains per hour) and new rollingstock.[17]

However, due to a change in government in 2010 and the 2008 financial crisis, the project was ultimately shelved.[21] Several stations eventually got their improvements and there is a possibility of improved rollingstock and services in the future which may affect Teesside Airport.[22]

Early in 2024, the Tees Valley Combined Authority Mayor, Ben Houchen, expressed a desire to spend £20 million on a new station. The money was made available following the cancellation of HS2.[23] Tees Valley also commented, stating that they were working on repairing the platform and getting weekly services up and running again.[24]

There are plans to re-introduce services to Teesside Airport in 2027, however many residents have mixed opinions stating that the station itself is useless, once again citing low usage.[25]

Facilities

The station has one platform for Darlington-bound trains, with very basic amenities. There is step-free access to the platform.[26] The station has two platforms, each long enough for a four-carriage train.[27] In December 2017, it was announced by Durham Tees Valley Airport that the station's footbridge and Middlesbrough-bound platform would be closed, in order to save a quoted total of £6 million on maintenance of the station up until 2022.[28][29][30]

Passenger volume

From the start of recording least-used stations in 1997, Teesside Airport has been named the least used station in the UK several times and the most of any station.[4] In 2020/21, due to decreased travel throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the station saw only two passenger journeys made,[31] matching the result of the 2022/23 period.

In the BBC Radio 4 programme The Ghost Trains of Old England, in October 2010, it was suggested that a large proportion of the tickets sold for the station are bought by collectors who wish to own tickets with rare or unusual destinations, and do not necessarily travel.[32][4]

Passenger volume at Teesside Airport[33]
2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23
Entries and exits 74 72 85 52 44 68 18 14 8 8 32 98 30 74 206 338 2 42 2

The statistics cover twelve month periods that start in April.

Services

Since the May 2021 timetable change, the station was served by a once-weekly westbound service on a Sunday, between Hartlepool and Darlington. Services were operated by Northern Trains in this period.[34]

The May 2026 timetable change from Northern still shows Teesside Airport, but shows no departures, attributing to the 2022 suspension.[35]

The 1986 British Rail timetable shows that the station was served by an hourly service, which operated seven days a week. However, from the early 1990s, the station had received only a bare minimum parliamentary service, to avoid the need for formal closure proceedings.

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
Allens West   Northern Trains
Tees Valley Line		   Dinsdale

Notes

  1. 1 2 Service suspended since May 2022.

References

  1. ↑ "Teesside International Airport Railway Station".
  2. ↑ "Railway Codes". railwaycodes.org.uk. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
  3. ↑ Brailsford, Martyn, ed. (2025). Railway Track Diagrams; 2: Eastern (6th ed.). Frome: TRACKmaps. p. 45. ISBN 978 1999627188.
  4. 1 2 3 Roberts, Stephen (January–February 2022). "Top of the stops: our least used stations". Rail (magazine). No. 949. pp. 56–61.
  5. ↑ "All change for most used stations as Elizabeth line shakes up top 10 | Office of Rail and Road". www.orr.gov.uk. Retrieved 14 December 2023.
  6. ↑ "Teesside Airport Halt agreed". The Railway Magazine. No. 813. January 1969. p. 45.
  7. ↑ "In Brief". Railway Gazette International. No. October 1971. p. 374.
  8. ↑ "Durham Coast services revised". The Railway Magazine. No. 847. November 1971. p. 616.
  9. ↑ Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens. p. 227. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
  10. 1 2 "Rail buffs to highlight Teesside Airport 'ghost station'". The Journal. 14 October 2009. Archived from the original on 7 March 2012. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  11. ↑ Armstrong, Jeremy (2 May 2013). "Britain's least visited railway station had just fourteen passengers in a year". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  12. ↑ "Airport gets its original name back". BBC News. 25 July 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
  13. ↑ "Station facilities for Teesside Airport". National Rail. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  14. ↑ "Airport outing bid to promote station". Northern Echo. 14 October 2009. Retrieved 26 October 2009.
  15. ↑ "Busy day at rarely-used train station". The Northern Echo. 26 October 2009. Retrieved 26 October 2009.
  16. ↑ "Regional News". Rail Magazine. No. 963. 10 August 2022. p. 28.
  17. 1 2 3 Tees valley Unlimited (18 May 2010). "Tees Valley Metro: Phase 1 - Project Summary" (PDF). Stockton-on-Tess Borough Council.
  18. ↑ Tees Valley Unlimited (April 2011). "Connecting the Tees Valley - Statement of Transport Ambition" (PDF). Retrieved 11 November 2024.
  19. ↑ LOWES, RON; PARKER, IAN (18 September 2007). "Executive Report - Tees Valley Metro" (PDF). Retrieved 11 November 2024.
  20. ↑ "Metro system hope for Tees Valley". 9 November 2006. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
  21. ↑ "When the Tees Valley was set to get its own £220m metro system and what went wrong". The Northern Echo. 4 February 2023. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
  22. ↑ "Tees Valley authority unanimously backs £1bn transport plan". BBC News. 27 January 2024. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
  23. ↑ Hordon, Daniel (2 January 2024). "New £20m railway station promised at Teesside Airport". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  24. ↑ "Teesside International Airport Railway Station". Tees Valley. Retrieved 4 June 2026.
  25. ↑ Hodgson, Daniel (3 December 2025). "Spades 'due in ground in 2027' for new Teesside Airport train station". Teesside Live. Retrieved 4 June 2026.
  26. ↑ "Teesside Airport (TEA) Station Train Tickets, Departures and Timetables". Northern Trains. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  27. ↑ Yonge, John (September 2006) [1994]. Jacobs, Gerald (ed.). Railway Track Diagrams 2: Eastern (3rd ed.). Bradford on Avon: Trackmaps. map 47C. ISBN 0-9549866-2-8.
  28. ↑ Bowe, Charlotte (27 December 2017). "£6 million - what Durham Tees Valley Airport says it will save by closing platform at one of UK's least used railway halts". Northern Echo. Retrieved 27 December 2017.
  29. ↑ "'Little-used' Teesside Airport Station loses platform". BBC News. 29 December 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  30. ↑ Regional News Rail issue 844 17 January 2018 page 24
  31. ↑ Nolan, Laura (1 December 2021). "Vlogger Paul Lucas only person to use Teesside Airport train station". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 8 June 2023.
  32. ↑ "The Ghost Trains of Old England". BBC Radio 4. 27 October 2010. Retrieved 11 November 2010.
  33. ↑ "Estimates of station usage | ORR Data Portal". dataportal.orr.gov.uk. Retrieved 11 June 2026.
  34. ↑ "Train times: Bishop Auckland and Darlington to Middlesbrough and Saltburn" (PDF). Northern Trains. 16 May 2021. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 May 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  35. ↑ "Train Timetables | UK Train Times | Northern". www.northernrailway.co.uk. Retrieved 4 June 2026.
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